Part of the Game
by battlenotwithmonsters
Summary: dark oneshot, with hysteria involved. read and love.


"I've found you!" I cry joyfully, as I surprise her on her way to the lake. This has been the cleverest hiding place yet. To wait in the last place I would look until I left so that she could run out of our house and find a new place to hide! Really, she has far more intelligence than I credit her with. I ignore her nervous laughter and the tears that well up so very appealingly in her brown eyes. It's all part of the game, and she plays it marvelously well. I give her the customary kiss on the forehead, and she gives the customary cry and winces. Such a marvelous actress! For you see, it's all part of the game. I laugh and she begins to cry.

The first few times we played, she was quiet and resigned when I pulled her from the bottom of the boat, and I suppose too new at the game to know that she hasn't a chance at winning. But these days, she is wiser, and last week she started crying when I found her trying to unlock the back door. Every day since she has wept like a spoiled child when I surprise her and beat her again. Till now, I have tried to be patient with her, but today I have no tolerance for a bad sport!

"Stop that!" and I slap her once on her tearstained cheek, hard enough to leave a glaring red mark on her pale skin. She stops immediately, looking at me with surprise as if she had no idea I could hurt her. It must be rather a shock to her, and she breaks into tears all over again, this time because of real misery.

Of course I can't resist any true sadness on her part, and I'm sorry the moment my hand strikes her face.

"Oh Christine! I am sorry my child, but you know how your crying upsets me!" And I hold her close because she is only a child who is sorry for being disobedient. She beats her tiny hands against my chest as if she could hurt me. It's almost amusing, really. But I hold her a little closer to keep her from hurting herself.

"And now your face is red and your eyes are puffy! My dear, have I ever told you that you are ever so much more attractive when you smile?" And I give her an example, happy that there is no mask anymore to keep her from seeing my smiling face. I threw that wretched thing into the lake that first night when she made me so angry…but no, that night is very far away from here, and it's not part of the game!

She looks up at me with streaming eyes, whimpering pathetically.

"Oh Erik, I only want to go outside! Why won't you let me go outside?"

"Outside?"

I pause a moment, puzzled. Why on _earth_ would she want to go outside, when she has all she needs right here? It's a rather silly thing to want, don't you think?

"Why would you want to do that? Surely you're not still disappointed about losing our game? You mustn't be, you know, I won't allow it!"

She tears away suddenly, turning from me and facing the door.

"Oh, but you wouldn't understand! You've no use for the outside! I need it, I…"

She turns to me, hands clasped.

"I want to see the Sun again, Erik! I need to feel the air, hear the birds! Please…"

She has gotten on her knees before me, hands in a prayerful position.

"Let me go out, just for a few minutes! I _swear_ I'll come back, please! Just a little while!"

I can't help it. I begin to chuckle, then to laugh uproariously, the wonderful sound growing louder and louder as I put a hand to my chest.

I can tell she is afraid. Just look at her eyes! They grow wider and wider with fear as my laughter explodes to the ceiling. But it is a marvelous joke.

"HAHAHAHA! Oh, Mlle. Daae, you are _far_ cleverer than I could have imagined, but I've won again!"

I can tell by the way that her mouth is working that she doesn't understand, and so I take her hand, ignore her struggle to break it loose and explain to her.

"You are a marvelous actress Christine, really! To think I created such an artist, I do believe I'm getting a swelled head! Such a perfect picture of honest need I have never seen! I almost believed you for a moment! But you see, I've foreseen that little trick, clever though it may be. Do you remember the grasshopper and the scorpion? Well, the grasshopper doesn't jump as jolly high as I thought it did, but just high enough, and I'm rather pleased with the result. You see my dear…"

I bend towards her and lower my voice in a conspiratorial fashion.

"The entire opera house was blown to smithereens, but not so with our little house, as you have probably noticed! It merely is sitting under thousands of tons of rubble, and…" I can't stifle a giggle, "There's no way out!" I laugh again at the wonderful hilarity of it all!

"Now my dear, it is time to sleep. Tomorrow we will play again, and I hope you will be a better sport by then!"

Her face is dead still, not a muscle moving. Then her lips begin to twitch upwards, parting to show pearly little teeth, and stretching farther than I thought possible. Suddenly, she raises her hands to her face, throws back her head and opens her mouth.

She starts to laugh.

And I laugh with her, because really, you ought to know, _it's all part of the game!_

-End-


End file.
